THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MAY-JUNE 2026 105 The floor began to sway and it seemed to no longer be under me; it was off to the side. As the house moved back and forth, I heard the crash of a glass mirror in our children’s bedroom. Thankfully, they weren’t injured, and we all left the house in our pajamas until the noise ended, and the earth’s movement ceased. Hundreds of aftershocks, some quite strong, continued for weeks. To deal with the recurring danger, my wife packed clothing for our children in small suitcases left near the door in case a quick exit was required. The embassy staff, with the State Department and other U.S. governmental agencies, responded with alacrity to the disaster. Fortunately, the airport had not been seriously affected, and embassy staff worked tirelessly to coordinate the arrival of flights from the United States and other countries bringing food and other supplies. More than 20,000 people were killed, most in the mountainous regions, and many more suffered severe spinal problems requiring surgery when their adobe roofs collapsed on them. At the airport, I saw the arrival of army trucks full of corpses, the bodies of those who died in the vicinity of the capital, stacked like cords of wood, for mass burial nearby. Gradually the situation improved, and water and electricity were restored to the city. The embassy was only slightly damaged, but the IGA had serious structural problems and took nearly a year to rebuild. Though the worst of the disaster was over, major problems still needed to be addressed and resolved. Overall, it was a dismal and discomforting time. Yet for me, one bright memory remains. While I was on duty at the airport, a Guatemalan Foreign Service National told me someone, an American, wished to speak to me. I assumed it was a staffer connected to the relief efforts. As he entered the makeshift office, however, I noticed he was in a suit. He’d come from a plane that had just landed. As it turned out, he had flown from San Francisco to Guatemala at his own expense. I recall his words to this day: “I’m an orthopedic surgeon, and I’m here to help.” I brought him over to the field hospital set up at the airport, and he began surgery shortly thereafter. When I checked later to see if he was still operating, I was informed that he’d stayed and worked for a week, leaving as quietly as he arrived. To this day, I wish I had asked his name. n Before my arrival in 1974, Guatemala, known as the Land of Eternal Spring, had been wracked by civil war, whose violence included the 1969 assassination of U.S. Ambassador John Gordon Mien and two U.S. mili- tary advisers. Ambassador Mien was the first, but not the last, U.S. ambassador on duty to be murdered. When I arrived five years later as director of the Binational Center, referred to as IGA (Instituto Guatemalteco Americano), the center was functioning smoothly, and the country was relatively stable. Then, suddenly, in the early morning hours of February 4, 1976, everything changed: A powerful earthquake registering 7.5 on the Richter scale hit. The events surrounding that cataclysm have never left me, although nearly a half century has passed. It is claimed dogs can sense the onset of an earthquake before humans, and unusual barking is one sign. I heard no barking, but at 3 a.m., I awoke after hearing a sound unlike any other—a highpitched shrill that seemed to be coming from below the house. The Trembling Earth: Guatemala, 1976 BY VINCENT CHIARELLO Vincent Chiarello taught high school history before joining the Foreign Service in 1970. He served overseas in Colombia, Guatemala, Spain, Norway, Italy, and at The Holy See. Now retired, he lives in Northern Virginia. His reflection, “Holding History in the Vatican’s Secret Archives,” was published in the January-February 2023 FSJ. U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY From left: In Patzicia, adobe brick rubble is all that remains of the houses that lined the street. In Gualan, the quake bent rails. In Guatemala City, the Hotel Terminal buckled. REFLECTIONS
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